Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club link-up with Championship Doncaster Knights said to be going well after first half of season
A partnership between Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club and Doncaster Knights, which sees young players travel down to train and play for the Suffolk outfit each weekend, is said to be going well.
The link between the clubs was set up as a result of a family coaching link, with Bury’s director of rugby Jacob Ford seeing his younger brother Joe recently take over at the RFU Championship club.
The south Yorkshire outfit made the 150-mile trip down to west Suffolk in the summer for a training session before Bury made the reverse journey (2hrs 30mins) for a pre-season friendly.
Five players were initially said to have signed loan agreements with Bury with three: Calvin Mitchell (tighthead prop), Will Metcalfe (scrum half) and James Harrison (second row) having been making the trip down regularly on Thursdays after training with their parent club to complete their week with the fourth-tier Wolfpack.
“It’s been great commitment from them and they’ve been performing really well, they bring fresh ideas and fresh energy,” said Ford.
“It’s great for both clubs and the boys love it as well and they’re getting better as players, so everyone’s winning.”
Sixth-placed Bury St Edmunds return to National League 2 East action following their festive break at third bottom Oxford Harlequins tomorrow (3pm).
Rally call to fill the Haberden
Bury St Edmunds RUFC have issued a call to their members and the wider community to ‘fill the Haberden’ on Sunday for a game that could go a long way to deciding if their women’s team end the season as champions.
Liam Leeson’s side are second in Women's Championship Midlands 2 and three points behind leaders Old Albanian Saints II ahead of the pair clashing on Sunday (2pm).
Bury returned to action following their festive break last weekend by edging out hosting Shelford Ladies 24-23, which was the same number of points they had scored in their last fixture, back on November 10 with a 24-15 home victory over Sutton Coldfield Ladies.
While upcoming opponents Old Albanian Saints II have a perfect record of played six, won six, Bury have won five and lost one of their opening six fixtures in the eight team division.
